Shadows of the Past
by UltimateOtakuGirl100
Summary: Midna, heartbroken because of her own actions, doesn't think there is anything left for her... but then an unexpected guest arrives at the Palace of Twilight. He gives her one chance... "I will take you back to when Link and his fellow villagers were first attacked, and you witnessed Link transform into a wolf... I genuinely wish you the best of luck."
1. Turning Back Time

Chapter 1: Turning Back Time 

**A/N: Hellooooooo, ladies and gentlemen and imps and wolves! 'Tis I, UltimatOtakuGirl100!**

**So, I've known how Twilight Princess ends for a while (darn you, spoilers!) but nonetheless, when I finally completed the game a week or so ago, I was pretty angry at Midna. I mean, seriously! **

**I guess I understand why she did it—preventing something like what happened with Zant from happening again—but seriously?! Why couldn't she have at **_**least **_**confessed her love?! And why couldn't she just put someone else reliable in charge of the Twilight Realm whenever she was gone, that way nothing bad would happen, and if it did, Midna and Link could team up again and stop it?! And when they got older, Midna could stay in Hyrule and destroy the Mirror from **_**that **_**side, that way, ta-dah! All the problems solved! But nooooo, she just **_**had **_**to shatter the Mirror of Twilight and leave! **

**Anyways, in my own personal way of making my (shared) anger known, I have decided to write this. It's just something awesome I came up with in my spare time, which I have a lot of during breaks from school. Not only does it fix the way TP ended, it also includes my own personal way of both adding to the story, and getting out my fangirlism for a specific character who just so happens to appear in this chapter… and about whom I will be writing a separate fanfic counterpart to this in the near future. No, I'm not telling who it is! You've gotta find out yourself! :P**

**Also, I know that I portrayed Midna and the other mystery character a little OOC, but I'm trying to lean into the romance part of it much more because it'll help the story.**

**And one last thing: this entire story won't ALL be in third-person view; it just worked out best for this particular chapter, because it'd be a pain trying to switch between POV's to capture the chapter at its fullest. Plus, it'd be confusing. **

**Now, enjoy! **

* * *

Deep in the depths of the Twilight Realm, inside the royal bedchamber the Palace of Twilight, there laid a small imp with the Fused Shadows in place of a crown, reclined against the side of her jet-black bed.

"_Well… I guess this is farewell, huh? Light and shadow can't mix, as we all know." _

Midna, eyes closed, let a single tear slip down one side of her face, which only resulted in reminding her of the tear that shattered the connection to the world of light just a little over a year before. _I'm such an idiot! _she thought.

"_Shadow and light are two sides of the same coin… One cannot exist without the other."_

"Zelda was right," she whispered, her childish-sounding voice vaguely audible.

"_Well, the princess spoke truly: as long as that mirror's around, we could meet again…" _

Midna slowly allowed her yellow-and-red eyes to creep open as she remembered Link stepping forward just slightly.

"_Midna… you'll be back one day, won't you?" _He'd sounded anxious, desperate, strained—hopeful. The emotions were well-concealed on his face and in his eyes, but even the Hero of Twilight couldn't completely conceal the panic in his voice as he guessed what was coming.

A shining tear slipped down her past self's face, and the Twilight Princess shuddered as she recalled herself catching the tear in her hand and gently casting it in the direction of the mirror. _"Link… I…" _She'd hesitated, unable to bring herself to say the words. _"…See you later…" _

And with that, the mirror had been shattered…

The creaking of her door snapped her out of her memories.

When the serving Twilight woman opened the large door all the way, instead of an imp, she found what she'd been expecting—the Princess of Twilight in her full-power form, standing, ready to greet her. Midna had discovered not long after she'd returned to the Twilight realm that she now had the ability to change from her regular, beautiful Twilight Princess state and her cursed imp state at will, and although she would never have chosen that state during their adventures, she now found herself constantly transforming into her imp form when she was alone.

But, for the sake of the Twilight Realm, she could never show anyone her cursed form. They would know how weak she was inside. The Princess of Twilight, the very same who shattered the Mirror of Twilight, could never be weak.

"Your Highness," the Twilight maid murmured respectfully, bowing, "I hope I am not interrupting, but there is someone in the throne room who wishes to see you… On urgent business, he said…"

Midna wasn't in the mood. "Tell him I am not seeing anyone right now," she commanded firmly.

"Right away, Princess…"

The large doors closed.

As soon as she was gone, Midna collapsed to the floor, tears streaming down her face. She shuddered with each sharp intake of breath. _Why?! _she screamed in her mind. _Why?! How could I be so _stupid_! This is all my fault. I never wanted the incident with Zant to happen again, and that's why I destroyed the mirror, but… _Midna gingerly wiped the tears from her eyes. _But is it really worth all this pain?_

To Midna's surprise, the door opened again, and she stood up again hurriedly in an attempt to recover—something she was quite good at nowadays. "My apologies, Princess," the same maid as before said regretfully, "but he insists… He said that it cannot wait, and it is of great importance… That it is something you will find to your best interests…"

The Twilight Princess sighed. "All right," she agreed reluctantly. "Tell him that I'll be down to greet him in a moment."

"Yes, Princess… Thank you, Princess…" She left.

Midna was silent for a moment; then she sighed again. _I guess I'd better just get this over with… _

* * *

Midna strolled gracefully to her throne—the one that Zant had once stolen and tried to make it his own—and sat down breezily. A figure in a black robe not unlike Zelda's while she was captive stood silently, watching her underneath his hood. He had a very humanoid form, like Midna did, which was rare but not unheard of among the Twili. "You are excused," she declared to her maid, who curtsied and left, leaving the two of them alone in the large throne room.

After several moments passed as she allowed the maid to retreat, Midna laid one leg on top of the other, propped up an elbow on one side of the throne and rested her head in her hand, straightened regally, and spoke with authority to make her power known. "Who are you, and why are you here? This had _better _be important, to have demanded an audience with me on such short notice." Her voice was slightly sour with annoyance and some boredom—the typical Midna.

The robed figure didn't respond, and Midna thought she caught a glimpse of a smirk beneath the dark hood, which only served to infuriate her. "Well?!" she demanded. "You ask to see me with this 'urgent business', and yet you don't say a word? How _dare_ you treat your _ruler_ this way!"

Another silence followed her outburst, before the hooded figure chuckled. "You haven't changed a bit, Midna," he retorted in a familiar voice, amused, "immediately reacting this way… even though you don't know." Now he definitely smirked. "Very well, if you insist on knowing…"

The robed figure reached up, with his hands still covered by the cloak's long sleeves, gripped the sides of his hood, and tossed it behind his head.

Midna, façade gone, stood up in a flash, eyes wide and she gaped. "H-how—when—YOU!" she screamed.

Right there, in her very throne, smirking, stood the last person she'd thought she'd ever see again: Link.

The newly-unmasked Link smirked even wider. "Surprised?" he guessed sarcastically.

Midna's shock just seemed to fuel his amusement.

He turned sideways, crossing his arms, and began pacing slowly as he spoke. "Midna," he addressed, grinning with some humor, "why do you react so? Is this something you didn't want to see?" He stopped, then turned in the other direction and continued to pace, looking serious. "Right now, I take on the form of whatever—or _who_ever—the viewer desires most in the world. Or," he corrected, "_worlds_." The one with the face of Link turned to face Midna again. "Well?" he asked. "What is it you see? Is it … someone you left behind, perhaps?"

Midna's eyes widened even further with a rare emotion—fear. Then, in a voice just barely over a whisper, she repeated her question from before. "Who…_are _you?"

Not-Link's smile lost some of its cockiness, and instead he smiled calmly, an expression eerily similar to the real Link. "I am known by many names," he answered coolly, "but I most often have been referred to by the name… _Shadow Link_."

Midna looked even more confused and horrified, an emotion that didn't look quite right on her normally calm, collected face.

The so-called Shadow Link chuckled upon seeing this. "Allow me to explain." He looked up at her, crossing his arms calmly. "I am not quite the same as you… I am a creature of shadow, but I am not a Twili. I'm… well, I suppose you could compare me to those Interlopers you are descended from."

Again, Midna looked stricken. The Interlopers had been an evil race of thieves, banished to the Twilight Realm after trying to steal the Triforce. Having someone tell her that they were one of them wasn't exactly comforting.

Seeing the Twilight Princess's expression, he cocked an eyebrow. "You misunderstand. I said you could _compare _me to them. I'm not an Interloper, and I am truly not much like them. Rather, I am _between_ Twilight being and Interloper. My ancestors and I were here long enough to have been changed by shadow, but I didn't become a Twili." He looked slightly lost in memories now, and he continued thoughtfully. "I probably _would_ have become one, had I been there for too much longer; however, the King of Thieves, upon stealing a portion of the Triforce from the Sacred Realm, decided he would like to try to take the Fused Shadows, too, knowing that the Hero of Time would one day awaken and come to destroy him."

Now Midna was even _more_ confused. "The King of Thieves? As in, _Ganondorf_?! And the Hero of Time? Who's _that_?!" she broke in, bewildered.

Shadow Link snapped to attention at her voice; then he cleared his throat. "Ah, yes. Sorry, I got lost in the story and forgot you hardly know any of it…" Any other situation, Midna would've been furious, but she was much too overwhelmed by all this new information to really care. "Yes, you're right; the King of Thieves is the title Ganondorf had, way back before he was sealed into the Sacred Realm, a place said to be where the goddesses left Hyrule. You know the story of the goddesses, don't you?"

Midna slowly nodded; that was one thing she _did_ know about the world of light.

He seemed relieved. "Good, then I won't have to waste time explaining it to you. Well, as you know, the Triforce was created at the place the goddesses were said to leave Hyrule. The Sacred Realm surrounded this Triforce, and the only way into the Sacred Realm was by the Hero of Time recognized by the sacred blade, the Master Sword, to pull it out."

"…The Hero?"

He blinked. "Oh. Right. Well, the Link you know isn't the first. There have been _many _Heroes by the name of Link, and if memory serves me," he added, again looking amused to mess with the Princess of Twilight's head, "there's actually an alternate timeline to this one that occurred by the Hero of Time pulling out that sword, and there's another, far younger Hero named Link there too!" He laughed, and Midna stared blankly, unable to comprehend it all.

He smirked before growing serious again. "But that's another story. Anyways, the Hero of Time Link was only a boy at the time, and the Master Sword made him sleep for seven years in the Sacred Realm as the world fell into chaos, due to Ganondorf taking the Triforce."

"But that's just _stupid_!" Midna exclaimed angrily, interrupting him. "Why couldn't he just stay as a kid and defeat him as a kid _before _all that crap happened, huh? Didn't he ever think of _that_?!"

Shadow Link looked confused. "But—"

"And you said there's a Link in an alternate timeline who's a kid, too! If he's a Hero and he's a kid, does _he _get the Master Sword?!"

"Well, yeah, but—"

"And does _he _get trapped for seven years as Ganondorf returns to _his _world and throws everyone screwy?!"

"Uh, no, but—"

"SEE!" she cried. "And it's that Hero of Time kid's fault that _we _had to face Ganondorf and destroy him_ now_! Isn't it?! ISN'T IT?!"

"MIDNA, JUST SHUT UP!" Shadow Link finally screamed, silencing her. After his yell echoed for a few seconds, he face-palmed. "Midna," he hissed, exasperated, "I _know _most of it doesn't make sense, and I'm _glad _you're beginning to piece together the story. I'm pretty sure that the gods learned from their obvious mistake after the Hero of Time, and that's why the other Link in the other timeline doesn't have to be an adult. And I remember that way back then, Ganondorf had already tricked him into setting his plan in motion, and if he _hadn't_ pulled out the sword, the Princess Zelda of that time would've had to pay the price, and he had to protect her. But can you _please _just let me finish the story?!"

Midna sweat-dropped. "R-right! Sorry!" she squeaked, desperately wanting to hear the end of the story despite how annoyed she was.

Shadow Link relaxed. "That's better," he approved, crossing his arms. "As I was saying before I was so _RUDELY _ interrupted: when Ganondorf had stolen the Triforce and the Hero of Time was sealed in the Sacred Realm, Ganondorf knew that the Hero of Time would one day awaken and come to destroy him. He'd heard stories of the Interlopers, because the incident where they were sealed away had happened because of his own ancestors, in the same location as where he was from. He also knew about the ancient magic they'd had sealed away from them, and he was interested in having this magic for himself.

"Well, that day, I just happened to be wandering around the entrance of the Twilight Realm, and at that point in time, some of the younger children were starting to look more like how the Twili look today. I was… scared. They looked so different from me! And slowly, day by day, more began to look more like beings of Twilight than of just shadow people.

"I didn't want to suffer this fate. I had a feeling that one day, I would wake up looking like… _them_. Now, don't get me wrong; I still cared about them, and I'm not upset that now, everyone in this realm other than me is a Twili. And besides, I was and still am much more peaceful than my ancestors. But back then, I was afraid of change. I suppose I still am, a bit, but now I know that change is always bound to happen.

"But that day, I wanted to try to escape, even though I knew we were all condemned to this realm of shadow, and only a select few could leave, depending on who they were. Even so, the reckless fool I was, I desperately wanted to avoid the fate of my brethren, and at that moment in time, I was willing to do anything to do it.

"Imagine my surprise when I see a Gerudo man exit the mirror! I was stunned beyond belief! And when he discovered that the power of the Fused Shadows was beyond his reach, he decided to take a slightly… _different _approach. That different approach involves me."

He chuckled darkly. "In that sense, I suppose I was just like Zant; tricked into believing he would do anything he could to help me if I obeyed him. Of course, I wasn't so stupid as I would think he was a god like Zant did, but I was tricked by his powers just the same. Naturally, the delusional little shadow I was, I eagerly believed him, certain that if I used my powers of shadow to copy this Link person's abilities and destroy him, I would one day be free. You have an ability quite like this, too, don't you, Midna? When you taunted Link with visions of Ilia and Colin. You remember, don't you?

"Anyway, even after the Hero of Time began messing with time and warping and going back and forth between the past and present, I still believed that… that belief was almost the end of me."

Shadow Link chuckled darkly again, and now, his image blurred, and suddenly there stood a teenager dressed like Link, except with a black tunic and cap, white-gray hair and red eyes. Midna leapt back, startled, and accidentally fell back into the throne behind her—good thing too, because she was on the verge of passing out.

"I barely got away with my life. He slashed at me with the Master Sword, nearly dealing the fatal blow… but his heart wasn't in it. He did hit me, but despite everything that happened, he didn't want anyone to die, and that was the same for Ganondorf, and that's why he was merely sealed him away in the end. His blow on me knocked me unconscious, my figure of Shadow Link faded, and my shadowy form slipped away, unbeknownst to him…

"But that wasn't the only time I was fooled… No, I had to learn my lesson multiple times, in multiple timelines, too. This is only one of my forms… Yes, I was a fool. A mindless, bumbling fool…"

His red eyes gleamed brightly now, anger clear on his complexion, and Midna honestly thought he was going to leap over to her and wring her neck. But then his eyes closed, and his entire complexion faded to black, including his hair. He opened his red eyes once more, and they shone sadly. "At one time, I got lost in the darkness… I could see parallel timelines, review things that happened long ago, and even glimpse into the future… but everything I saw was blocked from me by a shadowy curtain. I was lost… I had nowhere to go, and at that point, there were no beings in the Twilight Realm like me anymore. I wouldn't die; I'd been exposed to both darkness and light, become a being of invulnerability, and now I wouldn't die! I would just drift in that shadowy oblivion… but then…"

He looked at her solemnly. His Shadow Link form changed again, and now, he looked like a child Link with a black tunic and dark purple hair, with normal skin, but his red eyes remained. The childish Shadow Link looked close to tears. "But then I had a single thought: _'I don't want to be like this anymore. I'm a creature of shadow, but I don't want to be evil and manipulated anymore! I… I want to change. I want to go back to how I used to be! I don't want to hurt people anymore! I want to undo all the suffering I've caused in all my lifetimes, in all my many forms! I just… I just want to help. All the Heroes I've met, they've all wanted to help save the world, but I keep getting in the way! I want to change that… I want to be the one to help now!' _

"All of the sudden, I heard a woman's voice. 'If that's how you really feel, then I will help you, my dear creation… But you must watch your actions, for if they are unjust, then you will suffer…' And then I was here, at the entrance of the Twilight Realm…

"I began to bide my time, honing my skills. Using my powers, I traveled through the deepest parts of the Twilight Realm, helping the Twili as best as I could and slowing the transformations of the Twili into Shadow Beings, which took nearly all my energy, at the same time watching you and the current hero, Link, the Hero of Twilight… and as I'd anticipated, you shattered the Mirror of Twilight. But that was what I'd been prepared for."

He beamed, and then he turned into a form identical to the regular Link in the green tunic with the bright blue eyes that Midna remembered. Shadow Link, looking like Link, concluded, "I have been watching Zant and Ganondorf's every move… I've done what I do best—hiding in the shadows… I meddled with Ganondorf's plans, and made it so he didn't know of you and Link until Link was already well on his way to being the next Hero… I've done what I could. And when Link destroyed Ganondorf, which would have revoked all of Zant's Twilight Portals which cross from the Twilight Realm to the world of light, I used my power to the fullest and saved a few."

At this, Midna leapt out of her seat. "Y-you saved some of them?!" she demanded eagerly. "They're in working order and everything?!"

Shadow Link looked incredibly melancholy, and he transformed back into the Link wearing the black robe with his face revealed. "Alas, not quite," he replied with a sigh, shaking his head. "I'd overestimated my abilities… Zant's portals had been strongly connected to the Mirror, and once you destroyed it, although they're still there, they are mostly dormant, and if not dormant, they malfunction constantly. If you tried to use one of them, I can't guarantee you will survive. In fact, I can almost guarantee that you _won't _survive."

"…Oh." Midna completely failed to disguise the disappointment in her voice.

To Midna's surprise, Shadow Link temporarily lost control of his seriousness, and he snickered. "Midna… you seriously think I'd come all this way to talk to you, and give you such a ridiculously long story, all just to tell you that if you try to go back to the world of light, you'll die?! You're obviously as thick as ever." He grew serious again. "There's one other thing, but before that, I need to ask you a few things…" He looked at her. "Are you… in love… with Link?"

Midna recoiled defensively. "Wh-what are you saying?!" she cried. "Wh-why would you even s-suggest that?! It's _absurd_!"

Shadow Link took a few long, slow strides towards her. "But that's not what I asked…" he replied, smiling coolly with Link's face, just making the situation even more awkward. "I'll ask again: are _you_… in _love_… with _Link_?"

His question hung in the air for a time. The silence that followed was uncomfortable, and the grinning face of Link made Midna want to scream.

And then, face growing a deep shade of red, Midna said the single hardest word she'd said in her entire life. "…Y…Yes."

He leaned forward even further. "And what would you be willing to do for love?"

After answering the question before, it was much easier to respond to this one, and she responded without hesitation. "Anything."

Shadow Link leaned back, and transformed into his form with the white hair and red eyes, in which he appeared to be most comfortable in. "Good answer."

The figure of shadow smirked. "While in that shadowy oblivion I mentioned earlier—and that's just what I've decided to call it: Oblivion—I discovered ways to manipulate time and space. With this ability to manipulate time, I am able to reverse time, slow it down, speed it up, skip to the future, and stop it altogether, with me being able to move. Of course, usually it's _only_ me…" He smiled with some pride. "That is, until recently… I saw a young girl in the world of light, who had been chased by some monsters, fighting them off desperately with her sword, and she was nearly impaled by one of their spears. I suppose I could've just stopped time and moved her to safety, but… something inside me shifted.

"Instead, without even thinking, I leapt at her, and I used my magic of space to bring her to a nearby forest that happened to be close to her home, where I collapsed from using to much energy at once. She… she nursed me back to health, and told me her name—Angelina, or Angel for short. What a fitting name for her…" He sighed. "I…I suppose this is what love must feel like. It's a wonderful feeling, isn't it?"

Midna looked down, and her eyes were hidden by some loose locks of orange hair. "…"

Shadow Link seemed to realize that he'd struck a nerve. "O-oh, I'm sorry!" he blurted in a rush. "A-anyways, I spent a little while at Angel's home, and during that time, I thought about what I'd done. It made me think… maybe my magic can't only be used for myself, but I can use it for other people, too?"

Midna looked up hopefully. "D-does that mean that you can take me to the world of light?" she whispered.

He shook his head. "No," he answered unhappily. "It doesn't work to take Twili, or _any _race for that matter, between worlds. Trust me," he continued, grimacing with a small shudder. "I've tried."

_Judging by his reaction, it wasn't pretty, _Midna thought, pursing her lips.

"But," he added meaningfully, "there's something I think might just work." He smiled calmly again, which was starting to seriously tick her off, although she hid this emotion. "I think that maybe, just _maybe_, I can use Zant's old portals and infuse it with some of my power. But…" Shadow Link hesitated. "…My power isn't strong enough… It won't bring you to the world of light; not like it is now, anyway… the only thing I think will work is if it sends you to the past, back when you were still cursed, with no option of turning into your real form, and Link hadn't met you yet."

Midna's heart skipped a beat, and she stared in shock; she wondered briefly about how he knew she could change from cursed form to regular, but then she remembered he'd watched her since the beginning. She continued to stare, paralyzed.

The shape-shifter nodded solemnly. "I understand if you don't want to do that, and you only care for him if he knows you. It's like starting over, completely from scratch. But it's entirely up to you."

She looked down again and placed her hands on her lap, palms up. "I…If I did, wouldn't that impact you meeting this girl? This girl, this Angel… wouldn't you never meet if I went back in time and changed things?"

Shadow Link grinned victoriously. "And your thoughtful, selfless ruler personality is finally revealed!" He smirked. "Trust me, it won't. As much as I want you to find your own little Happily Ever After, I'm not willing to risk my own for it. I wouldn't have come here if I wasn't sure." He looked deep in thought again. "She's conveniently placed where she is close enough that she's still in Hyrule, but far enough that she wasn't quite touched by Zant's forces. Actually, now that I think about it, she was placed so well that I can't help but wonder if the gods had something to with it…" He scrunched up his face in disbelief. Then he snorted. "Yeah, right. Like the gods care enough about love lives to actually intervene to make one."

Midna felt tears creep into her eyes, and she still didn't look up. "Let's…let's just say that you were in my situation. You were trapped in another world, sealed away from this Angel girl, and you got an opportunity to go back in time to see her again… but she wouldn't remember you, and it might be a selfish desire, because she'd have to face those monsters all over again. Would you do it?"

He looked surprised. Shadow Link looked away. "Yes," he replied quietly. "I think I would."

Midna felt the tears begin to slip down her cheeks, although Shadow Link wouldn't be able to see them because of her angling her face down. "Why? Even though others might suffer around you? Even though it'd be a horrible thing to do? Don't you wonder if she would be better off without you?"

He was silent a moment. "Yes," he finally responded, "I would. But…" He paused again. "But even if all that happened again… and even if something went wrong, and she didn't care about me… at least something is better than nothing, right?"

Now the glittering tears fell into Midna's outstretched palms as she finally faced what she'd known from the beginning. She clenched her fists, squeezing the tears. "I…I'll do it," she declared quietly. Then she said it louder. "I'll do it!"

Shadow Link looked surprised, but then he smiled. "Come, Midna, Princess of Twilight," he announced, holding out his hand.

Midna looked at his outstretched hand uncertainly before slowly standing up and taking a few cautious strides towards him. She took Shadow Link's hand in her own.

He smiled faintly again and looked up, closing his eyes. A large, blue-ish, barrier-like swirling dome surrounded the two of them, before it shrunk and only centered around Midna.

"I will take you back to when Link and his fellow villagers were first attacked by Bulbins and Bullbos, and you witnessed Link transform into a wolf. You will follow Link into the castle dungeon, as you did before. What you do from there is up to you…" He opened his eyes and looked at her kindly. "I genuinely wish you the best of luck."

Midna saw a sudden flash of light, and then everything went black.

* * *

When she opened her eyes, she was floating behind a large rock. Her eyes widened, and she looked down at herself. She lifted her now-small hands, clenched them and unclenched them. Midna felt her face, and brushed her hand against the Fused Shadows.

Just out of curiosity, she closed her eyes and searched for the power to turn back to normal, but as Shadow Link had told her, she found that she couldn't.

Midna smiled, and felt tears prickling in her eyes. _I… I'm back! I'm really back! _

Her elation was quickly interrupted when she spun around and saw a herd of monsters break through the wall of Twilight, carrying the unconscious bodies of Ilia and Colin. Upon entering, their forms became bluish and transparent—the look of ghosts.

As before, after only a few moments passed, a Shadow Beast drew near to the wall and thrust his hand through, before yanking out Link, wearing his Ordon farming outfit. It looked at Link with its nonexistent eyes curiously as it brought him closer to its face.

Link began to thrash, gripping its giant hand wrapped around his neck. Midna saw him stretch in a desperate attempt to get out, and his hand began to glow—it glowed with the Triforce.

Suddenly, a bright light flashed, so brightly that Midna, even though she'd been expecting it, had to shield her eyes. The Shadow Beast recoiled and tossed Link several feet away from it in an attempt to get away from the pain.

Link landed flat on the ground, and he flinched. He felt strange all of the sudden. Trembling with dizziness, he slowly pushed himself up onto his hands and knees. He looked up, dazed and confused, and he grew shocked hen he saw his surroundings—not his familiar woods at all.

An abrupt pain suddenly shot through him, and he gasped a bit as his vision grew clouded for an instant. He closed his eyes in pain as he shook. Unbeknownst to him, the Triforce on his hand glowed in perfect time with the throbbing.

He thrashed slightly wilder now, nearly falling on his face again, wincing.

Link unexpectedly screamed in agony, tossing his head up in the air, blue eyes wide with pain. His scream turned into a beastly howl as his Hylian body disappeared, replaced by that of a wolf's. He was frozen in that position for a few seconds before he collapsed to the ground, out cold.

The light from the Triforce on his hand—or rather, _paw_—quickly faded.

The Shadow beast cautiously approached him again, and when he showed no signs of reacting, it grabbed Wolf Link and slowly dragged him away.

Midna quietly floated out from behind her stone wall. She crossed her arms and legs, grinning. "Link… here I come!"

* * *

**A/N: Whew! I haven't written a chapter this long in a while! It feels good to write something so long in only two days!**

**Yeah, I started this yesterday! **

**Okay, so, the "counterpart" story I was talking about in the previous A/N is going to be a Shadow Link/OC story, specifically, Shadow Link/Angel. ^.^ I don't know how many think it's a good idea, but I'm going to write it! Or at least try, anyway. So, yeah, it's going to give more detail on what exactly happened to make our evil little recurring enemy turn into the lovable yet mischievous little shadow he is now. :D And it will also probably include some info on what he did after this point. **

**Subscribe to me if you want to be one of the lucky few who see it first!**

**And now… **

**R&R, Hylians and Bokoblins! It makes me want to type faster! :) **


	2. Wolfy Meets the Imp Girl

Chapter 2: Wolfy Meets the Imp Girl

**A/N: Huzzah! :D In the course of only a few days, I have updated. I should get a reward!**

**Then again, this chapter and the next few to come are mostly based on canon, so… *sweatdrop* **

**Ah, well. **

**So, Link is now gonna meet Midna! …Again! :P **

**What will she be like this time around? **

**Wait and see!**

**Read on!**

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_**~~Link's POV~~**_

After what seemed like forever, I slowly began to regain feeling in my limbs. I felt the cold, hard, unforgiving stone floor underneath me, and I grimaced. _Ugh… what in Hyrule just freaking happened… _I thought groggily, hoisting myself up tiredly with my paws and shaking my head in an attempt to fight away the sleep.

…Wait a second…

"PAWS?!" I yelped in horror, lifting one of them and then the other, which was chained to the floor. Yep, I was right: I had two furry paws. Stunned, I slowly set down my paw again and looked around me, lost. _Wh…Where am I? _

_Well, that's a stupid question, _I retorted to my own thought. _I'm obviously in a dungeon somewhere… as a wolf… chained to the floor… _

It took me a few moments to let my own observations sink in. Then I yelped again and began to run in circles around my chain, trying wildly to break free. "WHAT THE HECK?! HOW DID I GET IN HERE?! GOTTA GET OUT, GOTTA GET OUT, GOTTA GET OU-_WOOOOOOOOOOOO_!" I stopped when my frantic wail transformed into a wolf's howl, freaking me out but nonetheless snapping me back into reality. "Right," I mumbled to myself, grateful that I still sounded like I did as a human despite my changed form. "I'm trapped in a dungeon… as a wolf… chained to the floor… what do I do? Think, Link, think…"

Frustrated, I went back closer to where the chain met the floor and began scratching at it with my paws. "Come on, come _on_!" When the scratching did nothing, I figured that, hey, I was a wolf, right? And wolves had pretty sharp teeth…

I bit the foul-tasting chain in my mouth and shook my head frantically. "Geht owwwt, geht owwwt geht _owwwwwwt_!" I screeched, words slurred, yanking on the chain.

I froze suddenly. I felt my ear twitch on my head, and I dropped the chain and spun to face whatever was behind me, poised in a ready-to-fight position.

Confused, I stared at an odd-looking imp. It stared back at me emotionlessly.

Slowly, its emotionless expression twisted into a frightening smirk, revealing a sharp fang, and its red-and-yellow eyes grew wide. It nodded happily, and then leapt-cross-backflipped _straight over me _to where its back was facing the bars of my cell.

"OH, LINK!" it cried—no, _she_ cried; her voice sounded much too feminine, and, now that I wasn't as terrified at her sudden appearance, I realized that her figure was feminine, too. Definitely female. "I'VE FINALLY FOUND YOU!"

I recoiled slightly and crouched a little closer to the ground. Before I realized what I was doing, I began to growl at the imp-girl. _How does she know my name?!_

She looked surprised. The imp looked downwards a little sadly, away from me. "Oh… that's right…" she whispered to herself, only heard by me because of my superior wolf-hearing. "He doesn't remember…"

_Remember what? _I thought, confused, but I didn't voice it. It was now that I finally realized that I was growling at her, and I reared back a bit, forcing myself to stop.

She looked back at me, smirk now returned, but I saw in her one uncovered eye that it was a fake. "Good boy, Wolfy," she praised cockily, crossing her arms carelessly behind her head. "I didn't even have to tell you to stop snarling and glaring at me. You figured it out by yourself."

Now this was getting annoying, this imp with these ridiculous mood swings. "Hey, back off, ya weirdo!" I snapped angrily, determined to put an end to her snide remarks, but too late, I remembered how bad I was at comebacks.

She blinked and removed her arms from behind her head. For a moment, I thought she was hurt at my pathetic comeback. But she merely smirked again. "Eee hee! You humans are so easy to taunt, aren't you?" Her smirk increased, and she grew closer to me. She used her hand to thrust my head upwards tauntingly. "Oops! But you AREN'T a human anymore, are you? You're a _beast_! Eee hee!"

As my head fell down and settled again, I glared at her furiously. _That was a failure! That just made her taunt me even _more_!_

"I don't think you should be doing that…" she told me. I continued to glare. "Well, that's too bad…" She paused and crossed her arms superiorly. "I was planning on helping you… if you were nice."

I felt my ears twitch at this, and I reluctantly raised my head back to normal.

"Eee hee! Much nicer." Her smirk only seemed to get bigger.

This was driving me _insane_! Now I was ready to do _anything_ to wipe that stupid grin off her face. I lowered again and pounced with my teeth bared, giving a sharp bark, but she merely danced out of the way and backed up again once more, making a T with her outstretched arms.

"There, there. You be a good boy and calm down. No need to bite!" she lectured, smiling and leaning in meaningfully at the last few words before straightening back into the T. All of the sudden, her evil grin disappeared and she closed her eyes, swinging her arms quickly towards herself and opening her eyes for the shortest second before closing them again and making a circle with her small hands. As her hands grew closer to each other, a sudden sparking sound reverberated, and a swirling, red, bolt-like ball appeared. She opened her eyes again and quickly thrust her hands apart, making the ball pop into a bunch of red particles.

One of these particles landed on my chain, and it snapped, freeing me. I leapt backwards in shock at the sudden sound. I lifted my now-free paw and brought it closer to my nose disbelievingly before putting it down again and staring at the imp-girl again. _What the heck?! _

All of the sudden, she got ridiculously close to my face, floating sideways. "You look kind of surprised! Eee hee hee!"

She suddenly flew away, spinning, and I lifted up my head high in disbelief as she separated into weird-looking _bubbles_ and floated through the bars of the cell.

She turned sideways to me through the bars and crossed her arms, looking serious. Again, he could see a glimmer of something he couldn't place in her eyes. Imp-girl hesitated. "…Look, Wolfy…" she told me, a dark edge to her voice, "I'm… I'm sorry that I can't be too much help… but…" Her expression changed back to a smirk. "Well, obviously you can't get out the way I did, so you'll have to figure a way out by yourself! Eee hee!"

I looked up at her, exasperated. _First she's all teary-eyed and excited, then she's all upset and muttering to herself about stuff that doesn't even make sense, then she's rude, then she gets sad again, and now she's all cocky again! What is _with _this weirdo?! _

I continued to leave my thoughts unsaid and instead pointed out, annoyed, "You realize that you have that red swirly zapping thing you used to break my chain…"

She blinked and cocked her head. "Yeah? So?"

"_So _you could just use _that_ again to break the bars!" I explained wearily.

The imp-girl stared blankly at me. "Ahhhhh…but…"

"But what?"

She looked annoyed again. "Look, I _could_ do that," she huffed stubbornly, "but I've already helped you enough! You should figure it out on your own!"

I gawked. "YOU ONLY BROKE MY CHAIN! AND AFTER THAT, YOU WERE A JERK! HOW IS _THAT_ ENOUGH?!"

She pursed her lips, crossed her arms, and spun around grumpily, facing her back towards me. "Well, I'm sure you're wondering where you are, aren't you? I'll tell you what. If you can figure out how to get out of there on your own, then maybe I'll tell you where you are." She didn't say anything else, and I was pretty sure that meant she was just going to give me the silent treatment until I got out of there.

I sighed and decided to look around for a hole or something I could squeeze out of.

I tried scratching at the corner with the hay piled thickly around, but there was just solid ground underneath, and besides, it reeked something awful.

I tried biting at the bars, hoping to pry them apart, but all that accomplished was a major toothache. Angered, I growled and leapt at the bars, smashing my head against them. Hard.

"D-D-D-_D'OOOOOOOOH_!" I screeched, recoiling. I fell to the floor and placed both paws protectively over my wounded head.

The imp turned around to face me, sweat-dropping. "…Did that hurt?"

I flinched. "SH-SHADDUP!" I howled defensively*.

She giggled a bit before turning around again.

As I felt the throbbing slowly faded away, I weakly stood up again. _Okay, that obviously didn't work… _I turned in a slow circle, before I stopped. _Since when are there _crates _in cells? _

Suspicious, I slowly crept over to the broken-looking crate and leapt at it.

As I'd suspected, the wooden crate fell to pieces, revealing a part of the bars missing and a small, soft patch of dirt. I walked in front of it a few times, trying to see if it was a big enough gap to slip under, but unfortunately, it wasn't.

Then I had an idea.

I dug into the ground, kicking up dirt behind me, and tunneling through to the other side. I shuddered, shaking the dirt off of my coat of fur, before grinning victoriously. "I did it!" I crowed proudly. "_WOO_!"

Then I realized that the imp-girl was nowhere to be seen. "Uh… hey, where'd you go?" I nervously asked, looking around.

I heard her odd laugh echo from somewhere, and I backed up a bit.

Then, all of the sudden, I felt a weight drop onto my back, and I knew who it was immediately. "YOU!" I howled, running in circles desperately to get her off. "GETOFFGETOFFGETOFFGET_OOOOOOFF_!"

She giggled. "Sorry, Wolfy, but I'm gonna have to hitch a ride for a while," she replied, and despite the face that I had to crane my neck to see her face, I knew she was enjoying this. She knocked me lower to the ground to stop my chasing and whispered into my ear, "Listen, I like you, so I think I'll get you out of here," she said, but there was something I couldn't identify in her voice. Hurt? Loneliness? Ugh, what _was_ it? "But in order to do that, I need you to do EXACTLY what I say! Deal?"

I hesitated. Then I sighed reluctantly. "…Fine…"

She relaxed on my back and patted my head. "Good boy, Wolfy! If ya need anything, just tell me… I'll be up here." She paused, and I sensed a nervous edge to her voice. Then she kicked me roughly on the sides. "Now, onwards, Wolfy! MUSH!"

I growled at the sudden pain and thrust my head upwards to glare at her.

And thus began the sequence of events that changed my life forever.

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**A/N: Aaaaand DONE! :P I know this chapter wasn't nearly as long as the previous, but it just seemed like a good place to stop.**

**Reference: **

***Kukuku, that was referring to "Twilight princess comic pg 54" on Deviantart by Hylian-guardian. It doesn't really work as well in the real game because at the beginning, Midna basically hates your guts and doesn't care what happens to you (she just giggles when you slam into walls trying to get out), but in this, it fit perfectly, because now Midna actually cares, despite how she acts. ^.^ Just search it on Deviantart, it should come up.**

**Now, I don't wanna be rude or anything; I'm well aware that some of you don't care (hey, that rhymes!), but regardless, I'm just gonna tell you that the Shadow Link/OC story is either gonna be titled something like **_**In Love With My Shadow**_** or **_**The Shadow In My Heart**_**. :P Yes, I like playing with words, especially in titles. XD For those of you who don't care, then don't even comment on this part of the A/N and skip right on over, but for those of you who DO care, I'd love to hear which title you think would be better! :3 Or maybe you can suggest one of your own, but there's no guarantees I'll use it. **

**Review topics: **

**Does the previous chapter conflict with this one? **

**Does Link's reaction to Midna make sense? **

**Do you think Midna is being a jerk to Link (or vise versa), and you'd prefer if the snide remarks were a little less… prominent?**

**Do you think Link is acting like an idiot? If so, do you think it's funny or stupid or realistic or all of the above? **

**Is Midna being quite OOC in comparison to what she said in the last chapter? **

**What do you think is going to happen after Midna introduces Link to Zelda: is it gonna be mostly canonical or non-canonical? **

**And, finally, is this review topics section a good idea? **

**R&R! **


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